Promotion
by escalus01
Summary: Ichigo enters a competition for the rank of vicecaptain. IchigoxRukia. Oneshot.


I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

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Promotion 

Kurosaki Ichigo sat on a stool at the bar of a run-down-looking ramen shop in the Rukongai district of Soul Society. As far as he was concerned this place made better food than the more up-scale restaurants within sereitei itself.

As he sat there eating his bowl of miso ramen Ichigo could barely contain a smirk as he remembered Rukia's latest idea.

A tournament.

The situation was simple really. It had been he and Rukia who had put an end to Aizen and his insane plot to become God. This had caused Yamato-taichou to see fit to promote Rukia to captain of squad three (which ironically had once been Aizen's position). As it was squad three, it was still in need of a vice-captain and Rukia had come up with idea of having a mini-tournement in order to see who would receive the "honour" of becoming her second-in-command.

He could not help it, this time a smirk did cross his face. Fighting was what he was best at and Rukia knew it. He knew she wanted him as vice-captain as the two of them worked well together, but even if most of Soul Society viewed him as a hero, simply handing him the title a mere two months after his death was going to raise a few eyebrows. So she had come up with this idea, if he beat everyone else then no one would challenge the decision. Right?

His grin faded a little as he thought of one man who might.

Many people assumed that Kuchiki Byakuya disliked Ichigo. Ichigo knew this was not true, Byakuya did not dislike him, Byakuya loathed him. Ichigo guessed that this was probably because he was sleeping with the man's sister.

His smile disappeared entirely when he remembered that Rukia was not the only who was confident that he would win this little contest. She had asked the squad eleven captain if they could use their training grounds for the competition. Kenpachi had agreed on two conditions. His first condition was that his squad was allowed to watch, the second was that he got to fight the winner.

Ichigo let out a heavy groan. Zaraki Kenpachi had been after a rematch ever since their first fight when Ichigo had first "visited" Soul Society four years ago and now, thanks to Rukia, it looked like he might finally get it. Sometimes he wondered just how sadistic his fifteen hundred year old (although she did not look it) lover and captain could be.

His usual arrogant smirk returned to him as he thought that if either Kuchiki Byakuya or Zaraki Kenpachi wanted a fight then he would just have to beat them both…again.

Ichigo slurped down the remainder of his ramen as he realised he had only thirty minutes to get to squad eleven training area.

After emptying his bowl he left his money on the bar for the owner to collect and began to prepare himself for the pre-planned mayhem.

* * *

Ichigo's grin was plastered firmly on his face as he sat at the bar with Renji drinking sake and celebrating his promotion. Unlike Renji however, who was being a bit loud after all the drink, Ichigo was trying to act as if his promotion was not a big deal. To this end he found himself recalling his fights.

When he had arrived he had discovered that a lot of people had pulled out after hearing he was competing, and the ones that remained, he remembered, hadn't even been a challenge.

_Drawing lots had decided the matches._

_In his first match Ichigo had been drawn against a weedy and nervous looking shinigami who probably would have done better in the more kindly fourth squad._

_In fact as soon as Ichigo had entered the circular ring that had chalked onto the floor the boy had begun trembling. When the cloth covering Zangetsu's blade unwound, seemingly of its own volition, he had noticed the ground by the inside of the boy's left foot become moist._

_In the end the boy had chosen to forfeit without a fight, much to the mocking of the eleventh squad._

_His second opponent had been a lot braver, if a bit stupid._

_The woman had charged straight at Ichigo with her Zanpak-to drawn. However she had been fresh out of the academy and Ichigo had found it rather easy to dodge her initial attach and hit on the back of the head with Zangetsu's hilt, thus rendering her unconscious._

_His third fight had gone pretty much the same way with him dodging his opponents' first assault and bringing his fist into the guy's solar plexus._

_After what had passed for matches he had received congratulations from his squad and Renji, who had come to watch. He had also received his captain's armband from Rukia, along with the suggestion that the two of them have their own "private celebration" later._

_This comment had caught him off-guard, it was not like Rukia to be so…seductive. By the time he had gathered his wits again she had gone._

_Hearing footsteps behind him Ichigo had turned around and let out a huge sigh. Standing behind him had been Zaraki Kenpachi with his zanpak-to drawn and big shark-like grin on his scarred face._

Ichigo walked out of the bar half-carrying an inebriated Renji. He proceeded to the full water barrel near the entrance and dunked Renji's head in, the red-haired man came back up spluttering.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

Ichigo merely turned his back and began to walk away, before shouting over his shoulder:

"At least you'll be able to get home now."

Renji walked in the other direction grumbling to himself with his hair sticking to his face.

* * *

Vice captains and above, if they do not come from noble families, receive their own private sleeping quarters separate from the barracks where the rest of their squad slept.

Upon entering his new quarters Ichigo noticed that the candles were already lit and that the petite raven-haired form of Kuchiki Rukia was lying on his futon dressed in a white yukata.

A predatory crossed his features as he closed the door.

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I know it was short but I did not want to drag it out and make it boring.

Please read and review constructive criticism is always welcome.


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